Winner, Experiences
Michelle Sanborn, writing as FARM Club Publicity Commissioner, UC Davis

In California, not many veterinary students are interested in a career in food animal medicine. Most students have very little food animal experience; many have never been to an actual farm or handled a large animal. The Food Animal and Reproduction Medicine (FARM) Club at UC Davis is the club that encompasses students with bovine, small ruminant, and swine interests. UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine has about 130 students in each class. Each of the students must pick a species interest, which allows the student to focus their education in their 3^rd and 4^th year. There is an average of 3 students per year that track solely food animal medicine, though there are others who choose mixed animal. Even with the small number of students tracking food animal medicine each year, our club has many student members who are interested in learning more about food animals. We have a tight network with UC Davis students, California, agricultural organizations, food animal veterinary organizations, and local media and community that have led us to a huge victory for our small club. We would love to share our story with other veterinary students.

Click to read more ...

The Veterinary Oath

Honorable Mention, Experiences
Heidi Rivadeneyra, Tufts

I woke up this morning to the sound of a rooster crowing, birds chirping and some faint singing and drums in the background. As my eyes open, there is a faint light coming from the window, but I see nothing else. I grab a flashlight and turn it on to see my little desk just as I had left it with some books, handmade bracelets, and a cherished, yet at many times pointless, cell phone. Figure 1: Dr. Valery Shean, Joyce and Me in Kangole, UgandaAs I literally crawl out of bed un-tucking and lifting the mosquito net, I laugh as I hear that rooster crow again. Even after weeks of hearing him every day it is endlessly entertaining. I am reminded of so many little kid stories and amazed at their accuracy in describing the sound I had only heard on cassette tapes up until a few weeks ago. I stand up and pull on my full-length skirt before opening the door of my grass-thatched hut so as not to be seen as indecent in my good-old American pajama pants. Outside it looks like the sun is just rising. The sounds I heard from inside have come to life as I open my door and I thank God for where He’s brought me. Listening to people sing and dance every morning reminds me of what is important in life. It’s nothing like at home. I wonder how I ended up here in the middle of Karamoja, Uganda... What could I do to help a people who had been war-torn for the past 50 years, stealing each other’s cattle just to survive? Well, I have yet to find out. So far, I am sure they have taught me so much more than I have given them.

We drove a couple hours and were getting close when we saw a lorry truck sideways in a pond down from the road. We opened the window to ask if everything was okay. They said all the people were out but they needed help. As we pulled up, I saw why... it had been carrying a bunch of cows. They had been tied up in the back of the vehicle... packed in – maybe about 15 total. A number of them had gotten out and some were swimming to shore as we came over, but there were about five still stuFigure 2: A Karamojong herdsman with his cock. We locked the vehicle and Dr. Val ran down to help... her veterinary oath kicking in. I shut the window and as I get to the back of the lorry, Val is already in the middle of everything, yelling for me to bring a knife. I take the keys and run back to the vehicle, unlock the door and find my knife. Val is nowhere to be seen as I return, so I follow suit
Figure 1: Dr. Valery Shean, Joyce and Me in Kangole, Uganda
and jump into the water, still in my full-length skirt. People yell, warning me it’s deep and telling me to be careful. I, of course, ignore them and slide down the slope in my sandals and skirt right into the water. It’s up to my waist as I walk around the top of the vehicle, which had become the side as it tipped into the pond.    As I turn the corner, the scene is quite amazing. Val takes the knife to free one of the cows whose head is barely above water. There were five or six total and they were all tangled with each another and in the frame of the vehicle. Val hands me back the knife and I put it in my pocket, covered in manure and swamp. She tells me to hold up the head of the cow to keep it from going under again while she and another man try to pull at various legs and tails to free it from the mess. I hold it up by the nostrils and as I’m standing on one bar of the vehicle and the side of another cow that was already dead, they extricate it enough for it to be freed. There was one more living cow entangled awkwardly under a few who didn’t survive. I hold it’s head out of the water and then pull on one of its legs while Val and the man move another dead cow and try to get the other end free. I hope that it doesn’t decide to kick me and try to stand far enough forward that it won’t be able to, when eventually it is able to struggle its way out of the mess. They pull it to shore while Val and I determine that our work is done.

Click to read more ...

Entry, Foot in Mouth
Hannah Facey, Cornell

Everyone knows that when a cow begins to cough and poop at the same time, you should at least back up to avoid the projectile splatter. In one of my attempts to avoid this awful fate, I stepped on a ho and the other end came up and whacked me straight in the forehead. The farmer and his son nearly died of laughter as a purple golf ball sized swelling appeared on my head. 

Up to my armpits

Winner, Experiences category
Justin Padgett, Auburn University 

 

The stories of James Herriot, Charlie Edwards, and other old country veterinarians fill the minds of each veterinary student as they set off on their pursuit of their veterinary career. Each pre-vet and veterinary student is encouraged by, and hopes to one day become, just like the veterinarians of old that were central pillars in their communities. The doctors of 50, 60, 70 years ago imparted important, helpful knowledge,  applied skills to save their neighbors beloved pet and/or farm, and were cornerstones of integrity and respect that helped build the veterinary profession into what it is today. I know firsthand of many of today’s students  who aspire to join a small farming community and carry on these romantic visions of a life as a skilled, helpful and respected mixed animal veterinarian. 

 

There is doubt, however, as to whether this life exists anymore. Growing up in the suburban South East, I was convinced that the life of the country gentlemen veterinarian was extinct. Often times it seemed that veterinary medicine was too specialized now and that much of it was becoming corporatized to the point that there may one day be a small animal clinic in a Super Wal-Mart. While many advances of specialized practice and big money from corporations are great, these kind of benefits come with the risk of rubbing a little of the soul out of the old county vet.  

 

Luckily for me, I was able to spend a short externship last winter with the veterinarians of Ashland Veterinary Hospital in Ashland, OH.  I came to know that the respected, needed, and recognized veterinarian still exists. In fact, they are alive and well. The small practice in North Central Ohio is home to three mixed animal practitioners (Drs. Gingrich, Brennan, and Yoakam) that have carved out the kind of life in the relatively small town of 20,000 that everyone reads about in the tales of old veterinary practitioners. They operate two offices, one that exclusively sees the small animal patients of Ashland, and another that is considered central operations for the herd health of just over 100 local dairies.  

 

I began my externship the minute I ran out of the finals in Auburn and booked it to OH. I arrived on a Thursday afternoon and was immediately assigned the task of heading to a local dairy to score teats with another veterinary extern, Dale, a student form The Ohio State University. Dale was kind enough to show me the ropes and give me a run-down as we hit the back roads in search of the dairy. From the time I arrived until my departure a short 11 days later, the work never really slowed down. 

Click to read more ...

EPDC Grant at work at UC Davis

Editor's note: The SAVMA Education and Professional Development offers a grant every spring to a veterinary school looking to fund an extracurricular activity, such as a wet lab or a lecture.  Last year's winner was UC Davis. Please read on to hear their summary of the event, and if you would like to know more information about funding an event at your own school, email the committee at savma.epdc@gmail.com

UC Davis Students at the Veterinary Pathology Club lab sponsored by SAVMA's EPDC Committee

On May 11th, 2011 the Veteinary Pathology Club at UC Davis held its first cow necropsy lab. The lab started with a small talk about safety during necropsies, common findings during necropsies and incidental lesions found during necropsies. The latter portion of the lab involved students necropsying cows with guidance from residents and a facultly member. Each cadaver was assigned an organ system to be focused on. For UC Davis Students at the cow necropsy labexample, one cow had the reproductive tract removed and the students were debriefed on normal structure, possible abnormalities seen in these organs, and possible findings you are looking for in these organs. The Veterinary Pathology Club will be using the EPDC grant from SAVMA to cover food for the pre-laboratory discussion and lab related expenses for the cow necropsy lab in this May 2012. Thank you SAVMA for your support!